June 1, 2005

Watching a game that matters

So, last night was my son's first soccer game. We had a blast watching him and his team race around the field in what most parents refer to as "Bunchie ball" rather than soccer. This is due to the fact that the kids all "bunch" around the ball kicking away at whatever moves. Needless to say, shin guards come in very handy.

This is my son as he is about to kick the ball. Note the steely determination, the "eye of the tiger" daring the opposing team to get in the way of his mighty kick. Truthfully, most of the time he was chasing his teammates around pretending he was a monster (or God knows what) rather than actually concentrating on the game. But he had a smile on his face the whole time, so that was nice. And he scored a goal! He was pretty proud of himself after that.

Besides that, the highlight of the evening took place when one of my son's teammates approached me with a simple question. He asked me:

"Do you know what 9 + 20 is?"

Playing along I said, "No, what is it?"

He answered, "2081. Plus chickens." Then he ran off.

Now that is what I am talking about! 2081. Plus chickens!!! What a great answer. Not only is 2081 a great number, but chickens can be added to anything to make it extra special! I laughed and laughed after he told me that. So, today any answer I give here at work will always include chickens. For some reason it just makes sense to me.

And just so you'll know, tomorrow I am flying off to Baltimore to give another presentation on the beast that is UThink. Johns Hopkins University actually invited me, and is paying my way, to talk to them about the project. Not Baltimore Community College. Johns Hopkins University. Needless to say, while I am there I shall endeavor to find out about one of the greatest mysteries in the history of the universe: why the university is named "Johns" Hopkins rather than just "John" Hopkins. I will find this out for you, dear reader! That is my committment to you.

Anyway, my posts will be kind of erratic over the next couple of days. So, see you when I see you!

Heaven forbid you actually use the web to find the answer... Maybe you could go to say www.jhu.edu and look it up? Maybe if you go there knowing a lot about the university they would be even more impressed by you. We have lots to talk about at the game tonight.

People often mistakenly assume that his forename was "John" (much to the annoyance of alumni of the University and other informed people). His forename is from a family surname. His great-grandmother, Margaret Johns, married Gerard Hopkins, and who named their son Johns Hopkins, whose name was passed on to his grandson.